Page 78 of Winterset

“All right. I’ll have our horses brought round.”

They started walking back down the hall to another room with a bell pull, so that Reed could summon a servant.

“I noticed something about the housekeeper’s house and Mrs. Parmer’s, too—they were very nice, weren’t they? Not large, but well built and pleasant. And each of the women had a servant. Do you think it is common for a retired housemaid to live that well?”

“The housekeeper did have a stipend from your uncle. And Mrs. Parmer married. Perhaps her husband was able to afford it.”

“Perhaps.”

Reed looked at her. “But I agree. It is odd. Do you think someone…bribed them?”

Anna gave him a level look. “Something happened here. I am certain of it. And Mrs. Parmer did not tell us everything she knew.”

“What makes you think she will now?” Reed inquired.

“We shall just have to make her,” Anna replied.

* * *

Mrs. Parmer looked somewhat disconcerted to see Anna and Reed on her doorstep again. “My lord. Miss Holcomb.” She looked from one of them to the other. “What can I do for you?”

“You can start by telling us the truth,” Anna told her crisply.

Mrs. Parmer blinked, surprised, and took a step back. They seized the opportunity to step inside the house, even though she had not invited them.

“I—I’m sorry. I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the old woman said warily.

“Mrs. Parmer, I fear that you were less than open with us yesterday,” Reed said. “I am hoping that you will change your mind and tell us the truth now.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she repeated.

“I know what happened in the room off the gallery,” Anna said flatly, watching the other woman’s face.

Mrs. Parmer’s eyes widened, and one hand fluttered up to her throat. “How could you—”

“Susan Emmett was killed there, wasn’t she?” Anna asked.

The old woman’s mouth worked a little, but she did not say anything; instead her gaze darted from Anna to Reed, then back.

“Mrs. Parmer…” Reed took her hand gently, gazing down into the woman’s face. “Don’t you think it’s time for Susan’s death to be explained? You worked with her. You knew her. Do you think it is right that she should have been sent to her death, yet it was never avenged, never atoned for?”

The woman looked uncertain. “Dead is dead. What difference does it make?”

“I should think it would make some difference with your conscience,” Reed suggested gently. “’Tis a harsh thing to have on your soul….”

“I had nothing to do with killing her!” Mrs. Parmer gasped, jerking her hand from his grasp. She hesitated, then said, “All right. I guess it doesn’t matter anymore.” She glanced at Anna. “And seeing as how you’re his granddaughter…”

She turned, nodding her head for them to follow her, and led them back into the parlor where they had sat the day before. Anna’s heart sank at the old woman’s words. It was what she had been fearing from the moment she had stood in the room off the gallery.

“Then…it was my grandfather who did it? Lord de Winter?” Anna asked stiffly when they were seated in the parlor, the door closed.

Reed, without saying anything, reached over and curled his hand around hers.

“Aye,” Mrs. Parmer responded. “The old lord.” Her mouth tightened. “He was always a hard one, that one. Never treated Lady de Winter right, I always said. Cold, he was. And odd. But, then—” She shrugged. “He was gentry, wasn’t he, and they’re often odd.”

“What happened in that room, Mrs. Parmer?” Reed asked.

“I don’t know exactly,” she replied. “I wasn’t there when it happened. It was only afterward—the housekeeper woke me up in the middle of the night, and she dragged me downstairs to that room.” Even now, the woman blanched a little at the memory. “There was blood everywhere. It was horrible. Mrs. Hartwell told me to clean it up and keep my mouth shut, so I did. I washed up all the blood, and she and I rolled up the rug—it had blood all over it, you couldn’t ever get that clean—and had it put in the attic. Mrs. Hartwell told me that I would be taken care of, as long as I didn’t talk, so I didn’t. They gave me money, a nest egg, so after a few years I could leave there and marry, and we were able to build this house.”